Offshore, Human Voices, The Beginning of Spring

Praise

“[Offshore] is an astonishing book. Hardly more than 50,000 words, it is written with a manic economy that makes it seem even shorter, and with a tamped-down force that continually explodes in a series of exactly controlled detonations…A marvellous achievement: strong, supple, humane, ripe, generous, and graceful.” –The Times (London)

“[Human Voices is] a wonderful combination of deadpan English comedy and surreal farce.” –A. S. Byatt

“One of the pleasures of reading Penelope Fitzgerald is the unpredictability of her intelligence, which never loses its quality, but springs constant surprises.” –The Times (London)

“Awards are one thing, talent’s another, and Fitzgerald has it in spades. Warm and wry, her writing is as economical as it is perfect.” –Washington Post Book World

“[The Beginning of Spring] is one of the most skillful and utterly fascinating novels I have read for years. I cannot imagine any kind of educated reader who would not get a thrill from this gloriously peculiar book.” –Jan Morris, The Independent

“The Beginning of Spring is a comedy lit by writing so precise and lilting that it can make you shiver, and an elegy that nods at what passes without lamentation or indifference.” –Los Angeles Times